Upper Tier Lake Access Market Update

There are times that I let my own personal preferences for real estate locations and design get in the way of fully understanding a market. And by “times” I mean all the time. At no other time is this more true than when it comes to the high end lake access market. Having been raised in a lakefront home on Geneva that was far from opulent and only marginally functional, I know the lifestyle that such a lakefront residence, no matter how limited, can easily yield. It is in this love of any sort of structure so long as it is very near the water that I find my delight in associations like the Harvard Club and Belvidere Park, and in small cottages near water that most deem unfit for habitation. I understand the way a rickety old lakefront home can change a life far more easily than can a beautiful home located a mile from the water. But for today, for now, I will attempt to bend and twist into a broker who understands the buyer who purchases a vacation home for a million or so dollars no where near the lake.

My prodigious brain has always had a difficult time understanding why buyers would purchase off water homes for the same prices that would allow for the purchase of a lakefront home. As such, I have failed to fully delve into the world of the high end lake access home. I’ve discussed this lofty market much, but I’ve usually written it off as a market populated by the sorts of buyers that I have never entertained. Today, this market will be mine, and I will be, well, its. I will no longer ignore it and classify it as a market best occupied by buyers who don’t understand the lake or the idea of a vacation home quite as well as I do. I will no longer aim my condescending glare in its direction. I will, instead, embrace it.

In order to do so, I must first get to the understanding of why some buyers choose to spend $1MM+ away from the lake. These buyers obviously love Lake Geneva and the delicious entrapments of the area, so it’s not that they don’t like the lake- they love the lake, or they wouldn’t be here. They also most certainly have their personal preference for geography within the market, as some choose Fontana, others Lake Geneva, fewer Williams Bay, and some in Linn. They tend to want a slip in this price range, so they’re boaters, or at least the sort who like the idea of being a boater. But above all this, and perhaps above all else, they want a nice home. Like a really nice home.

If you came to me and said you have $1.2MM to spend and you wanted a vacation home near Geneva Lake, I’d be happy. Then I’d find out where you want to be. If you wanted to be on the lake for that price, it is possible, though difficult. If you were able to buy on the water for $1.2MM you’d be buying a very basic cottage that would more than likely need to be significantly updated or expanded. In short, you’d be buying a dump. If you wanted to spend $1.2MM and be very near the lake, like painfully near, like steps from the lake but not on it, I could probably find you a much nicer home. If that $1.2MM very near to the lake home had a boatslip, the $1.2MM might still be a difficult number if you’re trying to find perfection. The lakefront and near-lake access market is tight, even with a robust budget of $1.2MM. What happens if you said you were open to a $1.2MMish lake access home that might be a ways off the lake? Clearing skies and rainbows, that’s what.

As of today, the MLS shows nine lake access homes priced from $900k to $1.5MM. In that price range there is just one lakefront home, priced at $1.35MMish, and it’s right next to a boat launch (I’m telling you, these entry level lakefront homes are evaporating). The lake access homes in that price range are, for the most part, quite spectacular. Some have lakeviews. Others have slips. Some have views and slips. And in the case of one of my very favorite homes in this segment, one has a pool, a pier, a lakeview, and a perfectly estate like property. To put it in this sort of perspective, if that aforementioned home had 100′ of private frontage, the price would go from $1.495MM to $3.495MM faster than you can say… really?

There are other homes in this price range that I like as well, including a couple of truly fabulous homes in Country Club. There are a couple with views of the lake around a million bucks, and a couple more far up on Tarrant for similar prices. The only problem I have with homes on the south extension of Tarrant is that they tend to feel more suburban than similar homes on Arrowhead would. Nothing against the suburbs, but I thought the reason we were coming to the lake was to escape those locales. There are other lake access homes in this price range that inspire me, and there are situations where off-water homes would even sell in excess of these numbers. The two off-water Clearsky Lodge properties are highly desirable, and given that I sold one last year for $2.475MM they are also highly valuable.

If I’m a buyer in this price range, what would I focus in on? I’d be a major player in the Congress Club if this was my price point. Like major, major. I’d also entertain the homes in Country Club that have lake views, and I’d pay close attention to the mini-estate on Conference Point that I described above. I’d also probably want to have a boat slip, though if the property I desired was in Fontana I might just settle for a slip at the Abbey. But these moves would require me to give up the dream of private frontage, which is a dream that I’d have a hard time abandoning even if my budget was just $1.2MM (I say that fully understanding that a budget of $1.2MM is significant). I’d want to cozy up to the lake in my own little lakefront shack, but that’s just me. If you’re a buyer in search of supremely appointed vacation home, and the whole lakefront thing isn’t that appealing to you, Lake Geneva provides options. I promise to make a concerted effort to pilot you to the correct association, even if we do take a few detours to look at lakefront cottages along the way.